In the marketing of poultry such as turkeys, for example, it is conventional for the birds to be slaughtered, cleaned and then sold with means holding the legs against the body. Various types of trussing devices have been developed including flexible lines and wire yokes. A highly successful device of this type is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,112,515.
There are two major aspects to the trussing of poultry such as turkeys. In the processing of turkeys it is advantageous to secure the legs against the carcass with the tail folded into the rear carcass opening in order to retain within the cleaned carcass, the neck and giblets. Many turkeys, both fresh and frozen, are trussed at least to the extent of the foregoing during packaging and sale. In the use of turkeys by the housewife it is also very convenient for trussing means to be provided so that the rear carcass opening may be closed following stuffing of the bird.
Poultry leg retainers of the type shown in the abovenoted patent comprises a resilient element which hooks into apertures in the backbone of the fowl and extends over the hocks of the legs. Conventionally, a number of different sized retainers must be employed to encompass the substantial variation in size of turkeys, for example, that are marketed. Retainers of this type are normally released from the hocks by the user to gain access to the interior of the carcass of the poultry for retrieving parts of the poultry stored therein and also inserting stuffing in the carcass. The retainer is then reapplied to the hocks with the tail in closing relationship to the carcass opening so as to retain stuffing in the carcass during cooking. If the retainer is too large release and reapplication of the retainer has a tendency to free the hooked ends thereof from the carcass backbone and this is undesirable inasmuch as the housewife may then be unable to reinsert the retainer for trussing the fowl for cooking. If the retainer is too small it is difficult for a housewife or the like to free the legs or hocks from the retainer, and it is particularly difficult to replace the retainer on the hocks.
The present invention provides a particular structure of retainer for the legs of poultry wherein a single retainer is adaptable for use with poultry of widely varying sizes and yet may be readily released and may be readily returned to retaining engagement with the legs of poultry.